1950 - Commerce

Commerce

Diplomat-industrialist Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach dies at Blühnbach, near Salzburg, January 16 at age 79 (he married Bertha Krupp and adopted her family name; their son Alfried, now 42, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for helping the Nazi war machine but will be released from Landsburgh Prison next year to carry on the family business. Property valued at about $43 million will be restored to him, and his company will soon be the world's 12th largest).

The Schuman Plan proposed May 9 to French foreign minister Robert Schuman by statesman Jean (Omer Marie Gabriel) Monnet, 61, calls for a pooling of Western Europe's coal and steel resources. Monnet is a onetime champagne salesman whose plan will evolve into the European Economic Community (see 1948; 1951).

The Korean War brings a boom to the Japanese economy, lifting it out of recession. The United States will pour nearly $4 billion into Japan in the next few years as it procures trucks and other equipment from Japanese producers, spurring development of the country's steel, motorcar, and electronic industries.

President Truman requests a $10 billion war fund plus internal economic controls July 10. The Defense Production Act passed by Congress September 8 establishes a system of priorities for materials, provides for wage and price stabilization, and curbs installment buying.

The Revenue Act passed by Congress September 23 increases income and corporation taxes.

General Motors announces 1949 profits of nearly $636.5 million, a new high for any U.S. corporation. GM signs a 5-year contract May 23 granting UAW employees pensions and wage boosts.

American Federation of Labor (AFL) membership reaches roughly 8 million, CIO membership 6 million.

The U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) reaches $284 billion, up from $99 billion in 1940 and $103 billion in 1929. Government spending accounts for 21 percent of the total, up from 18 percent in 1940, 10 percent in 1929 (see 1960).

The U.S. Consumer Price Index for all goods and services will rise by 10 percent in the next decade.

The Federal Reserve Board estimates December 25 that four out of 10 U.S. families are worth at least $5,000 and one in 10 has assets of at least $25,000.

The Celler-Kefauver Amendment (Antimerger Act) closes a major loophole in Section 7 of the 1914 Clayton Anti-Trust Act and "puts teeth" in that law by curbing vertical mergers of U.S. business firms. Written by Rep. Emmanuel Celler, 62, (D. N.Y.) and Sen. Estes Kefauver, 47, (D. Tenn.), the new law passed December 29 stops companies from buying up stock in other companies. Congress will pass no further laws this century to thwart anti-competitive practices, but large corporations will simply buy up competitor's assets, and the number of mergers in years to come will dwarf this year's 219 (see 1960).

Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average closes December 30 at 235.41, up from 200.13 at the end of 1949.